Tokubetsu Hozon Token (Sword Especially Worthy of Preservation) 『 Taira Nobuhide, Genji 1st year, 3rd month 』 Sword Type: 『Katana』 Mei: 『Taira Nobuhide, Genji 1st year, 3rd month』 『Taira NOBUHIDE genji 1nen 3gatsuhi』 Appraisal: 『NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon Paper』 Era: 『Genji 1st year』 Production age 『1864』 Kurihara Nobuhide was a prominent student of Minamoto Kiyomaro, a master swordsmith of the late Edo period. In Bunsei 12, he went to Kyoto and became a mirror maker, but in Kaei 3, at the age of 34, he went to Edo and, through Kubota Kiyone, entered the Kiyomaro school and became a swordsmith. He was only two years younger than Kiyomaro and was treated more like a younger brother than a disciple. The earliest extant work of Nobuhide is dated Kaei 5, suggesting that his period of apprenticeship was short. He was a genius like his master Kiyomaro and became independent in four years. In Kaei 6, he produced "Uraga-uchi". In the spring of Keio 1, he went to Kyoto and received the title of Chikuzen no Kami, erected a monument to Kiyomaro at Okunoin in Koyasan, and enshrined a memorial tablet for eternal memorial service. This cost a considerable amount of money, suggesting a deep connection with Kiyomaro. He then stayed in Osaka. His sword production in Osaka began in October of Keio 1 and continued until January of Keio 3. Later, he returned to Edo, and in Meiji 2, he was appointed as a swordsmith for Emperor Meiji and presented a sword, solidifying his position. In the summer of Meiji 7, he returned to Sanjo, Echigo, and in Meiji 10, he produced a sacred mirror for Yahiko Shrine. On January 25, Meiji 13, he died at the age of 66 at the residence of his adopted son, Nobuchika, in Hongo Motomachi, Tokyo. His skill was the most outstanding among the Kiyomaro school, and some of his works rivaled those of his master Kiyomaro. He was also skilled in carving and applied it to many of his works, but his unique style was characterized by shallow, delicate carvings. This sword is wide, with an extended kissaki, long nagasa, a relatively narrow shinogi-haba compared to the mihaba, little hiraniku, and a fukura that tends towards kare-gokoro. This is a unique sword shape often seen in Kiyomaro and his school during the Shinshinto period, and its appearance is particularly magnificent. The kitae is itame that tends to hada-dachi, generally nagare, with thick ji-nie, prominent chikei, and the hamon is gunome-midare with characteristic yakiba that include angular ha, round-headed gunome, and togari-ba. The ashi are long and prominent, with abundant nie, overall sunagashi, and thick kin-suji in various places, as usual, and a bright nioiguchi. In particular, the boshi is midare-komi with a saki that sweeps, fully demonstrating his skill. Furthermore, round tama (shima-ba) that appear to be nuke are visible in the ha-chu, which is also a common feature of Kiyomaro and his school. The magnificent blade shape and gorgeous yakiba combine to create an exceptional presence. Many works up to Bunkyu 2 are signed with the long mei "Kurihara Kenji Nobuhide," but works from Bunkyu 3 to Genji 2 are usually signed with the three-character mei "Taira Nobuhide," or the two-character mei "Nobuhide," as seen in this sword. The nakago of this period is also noteworthy for being particularly long. Since the era name was changed on February 20, Bunkyu 4, this work is understood to be a work from immediately after the era change, making it valuable from a historical perspective. 『Shape』 Shinogi-zukuri, iori-mune, mihaba is normal, nagasa is long, there is a slight difference in width between moto and saki, the shinogi-haba is relatively narrow compared to the mihaba, the kasane is thick, there is little hiraniku, the chu-kissaki is extended, and the fukura tends towards kare-gokoro. 『Kitae』 Itame hada tends to hada-dachi, generally nagare, thick ji-nie, prominent chikei, with black kawari-gane mixed in various places. 『Hamon』 Gunome-midare with angular ha, togari-ba, round-headed gunome, tobiyaki-fu and shima-ba mixed, ashi are long and prominent, abundant nie, overall sunagashi, especially prominent kin-suji, Kiyomaro-fu, and a bright and clear nioiguchi. 『Boshi』 Midare-komi, saki sweeps and returns deeply. 『Nakago』 Ubu, saki is ha-agari-gokoro kuri-jiri, yasurime is suji-chigai, mekugi-ana is 1. 『Dimensions (Size)』 Nagasa (Blade length) 76cm, Sori (Curve) 1.4cm, Moto-haba (Width at the base) 3.19cm, Saki-haba (Width at the tip) 2.25cm, Moto-gasane (Thickness at the base) 0.74cm, Saki-gasane (Thickness at the tip) 0.5cm
NihontoWatchmei · Shin-shinto · nagasa 76cm · sori 1.4cm
Kurihara Nobuhide, Yamaura Kiyomaro school (shinshinto) · Musashi · around 1857-1867
Fujishiro Jo-jo saku · Tōken Taikan top 10%
3 pieces on the market now
Kurihara Kenji Nobuhide was born at Sanjō in Echigo and began life as a maker of metal mirrors, turning to the sword only around Kaei 3 when he entered the Edo workshop of Yamaura Kiyomaro at Yotsuya. Of the master's pupils he is the one the published sources place nearest the source: examining a blade made before he took his title, the NBTHK writes that 'his technique was, among the members of that school, the closest to approaching the level of his master'[[c:1]]. He received the honorary title Chikuzen no Kami in the fifth month of Keiō 1, lived three years at Osaka, returned to Edo, and after the Haitōrei went home to Echigo and forged only a little until his death in Meiji 13. He signed Nobuhide, often Taira Nobuhide and, after the title, Kurihara Chikuzen no Kami Taira Nobuhide. With Kiyondo he is one of the two hands who carried the Kaei-era Sōshū revival of the Yotsuya Masamune into the Bakumatsu and early Meiji.
What he aimed at is his teacher's manner, and within it the Shizu vein Kiyomaro favoured most. The published commentary states plainly that his workmanship 'resembles his teacher and excels in the Shizu tradition'[[c:2]]. The temper is a gunome-midare into which he sets togariba and an angular kaku-gunome, a chōji feeling entering and at times mixing in, with ashi and yō well in. The activity is that of a deep nie edge: ko-nie adheres well, sunagashi streams through, and long kinsuji enter frequently, the nioiguchi bright and clear. The bōshi runs midare-komi and turns with a pointed tendency, often with hakikake, sometimes thrusting up to a small round. On a wide hira-zukuri wakizashi the judges read exactly this hand at full strength, 'a work full of commanding spirit, sunagashi and kinsuji operating repeatedly, giving a powerful impression'[[c:3]].
The jigane is where his closeness to Kiyomaro tells most. Over an itame that flows and stands a little, at times mixed with masame and mokume, he lays a thick ji-nie with chikei entering frequently, the steel clear. There is no utsuri: this is a shinshintō hand reaching back to Sōshū through Shizu, not a Bizen one, and the brightness lives in the nie of ji and ha rather than in any reflection. His swords are imposing in shape, wide in body, the kasane often thin and the sori shallow, the kissaki extended or run to an ō-kissaki, several with a sakizori tendency. Set against this strength the published sources are candid about the limit of the inheritance: his spirit and forcefulness, they note more than once, do not reach his master's, even as the deftness of the work is beyond question.
His own tell, the feature that is his alone in the school, is the carving. The mirror-maker's training gave him a hand for metal that the others lacked, and the NBTHK records that within the Yamaura line 'there are no blades but his that bear carvings'[[c:4]]. The motifs are diverse and distinctively his: a grass-style kurikara, a jewel-chasing dragon, a dragon-riding Kannon, Ame-no-Uzume-no-Mikoto and mountain cherry at the koshimoto, bonji and suken beneath futasuji-hi and bō-hi. From Meiji 1, after study with the metal-artist Kanō Natsuo, his carving changes markedly into a shallow, low-relief manner. The form that accompanies the carving is the katakiriba-zukuri, which the published sources note is not uncommonly encountered among his swords, alongside the wide hira-zukuri sunobi wakizashi. Carving was so much the point of his work that on one entirely uncarved katana the judges turn the absence into praise: with no horimono to occupy the eye, they write, the blade is 'all the more such that it could be mistaken for his teacher Kiyomaro'[[c:5]].
What separates him from his teacher is named in the commentary itself, and it is a matter of degree, not of kind. He works the same flowing itame with thick ji-nie and chikei, the same gunome-midare deep in nie with sunagashi and kinsuji, the same pointed bōshi; but where Kiyomaro's hand is read as overwhelming in spirit, Nobuhide's is read as the most skillful approach to it, the closest the school came. Among the Kiyomaro pupils his is the carved hand, the Osaka and Echigo wandering hand, the one whose blades can be dated and placed by their signatures and titles. He is therefore the open, knowable face of a school whose founder is the more mythologized for his short and violent life.
For the collector he is an attainable Kiyomaro-school name of real quality. Fujishiro grades him Jō-jō saku, and the Tōkō Taikan values his work highly among shinshintō smiths. He has no National Treasures and no Important Cultural Properties; his record runs instead through the Jūyō Tōken rank, where something over thirty of his signed katana, wakizashi and naginata are designated. His provenance is grounded and historically resonant rather than broad: one katakiriba wakizashi of Keiō 1, the published sources record, 'was presented to Shogun Yoshinobu'[[c:6]], and a blade is preserved at the Hachiman shrine of his native Sanjō in Echigo. Most designated blades are held rather than traded, and only a small share fall in the tradeable tier, so a signed Nobuhide reaches the market only from time to time. When one does, it is among the most rewarding ways a collector can hold the Kiyomaro Sōshū manner, signed, dated, and often carried by his own carving.
Where Nobuhide stands among comparable artisans: across all of nihontō, and within tradition, era, and period. The tiers (Foremost · Leading · Major · Notable) weigh official designations from the NBTHK and Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs, together with historical honors of lasting repute such as the Sansaku and Meibutsu-chō.
Select a lens to see how it's measured.
Years he was demonstrably active, proven by signed-and-dated blades
Shinshinto · Musashi
13 pieces on the market now
The Kiyomaro school gathered in the workshops of Yotsuya in Edo around the middle of the nineteenth century, its founder Yamaura Kiyomaro (清麿) born in Bunka 10 (1813) at Akaiwa village in the Komoro district of Shinano, the second son of the country gentry-warrior Yamaura Nobukaze. Learn more →
| Smith | Era | Designated |
|---|---|---|
| Kiyomaro清麿 | 1839-1854 | 52 |
| Nobuhide信秀 | 1857-1867 | 34 |
| Kiyondo清人 | 1848-1868 | 8 |
| Masao真雄 | 1844-1866 | 6 |
| Masanao正直 | 1865-1868 | 3 |
A Hozon-certified blade judged to show notably superior workmanship and a better state of preservation. The bar is higher: re-tempered blades and most unsigned Muromachi/Edo works are excluded.
The NBTHK (Nihon Bijutsu Tōken Hozon Kyōkai, the Society for the Preservation of Japanese Art Swords) is a public-interest incorporated foundation founded in 1948 and supervised by Japan’s Agency for Cultural Affairs (Bunkachō); it is based at the Japanese Sword Museum in Tokyo. Its expert panels physically examine each submitted work (shinsa) and issue a certificate (kanteishō) ranking it by artistic and historical merit. NBTHK papers are the most widely recognized standard of authentication for Japanese swords and fittings.
NBTHK official siteWhen the item reaches you, please check immediately for damage and that it matches your order. We bear the shipping cost for a return; please send it freight-collect. Costs other than the item price cannot be refunded.
Tokubetsu Hozon Token (Sword Especially Worthy of Preservation) 『 Taira Nobuhide, Genji 1st year, 3rd month 』 Sword Type: 『Katana』 Mei: 『Taira Nobuhide, Genji 1st year, 3rd month』 『Taira NOBUHIDE genji 1nen 3gatsuhi』 Appraisal: 『NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon Paper』 Era: 『Genji 1st year』 Production age 『1864』 Kurihara Nobuhide was a prominent student of Minamoto Kiyomaro, a master swordsmith of the late Edo period. In Bunsei 12, he went to Kyoto and became a mirror maker, but in Kaei 3, at the age of 34, he went to Edo and, through Kubota Kiyone, entered the Kiyomaro school and became a swordsmith. He was only two years younger than Kiyomaro and was treated more like a younger brother than a disciple. The earliest extant work of Nobuhide is dated Kaei 5, suggesting that his period of apprenticeship was short. He was a genius like his master Kiyomaro and became independent in four years. In Kaei 6, he produced "Uraga-uchi". In the spring of Keio 1, he went to Kyoto and received the title of Chikuzen no Kami, erected a monument to Kiyomaro at Okunoin in Koyasan, and enshrined a memorial tablet for eternal memorial service. This cost a considerable amount of money, suggesting a deep connection with Kiyomaro. He then stayed in Osaka. His sword production in Osaka began in October of Keio 1 and continued until January of Keio 3. Later, he returned to Edo, and in Meiji 2, he was appointed as a swordsmith for Emperor Meiji and presented a sword, solidifying his position. In the summer of Meiji 7, he returned to Sanjo, Echigo, and in Meiji 10, he produced a sacred mirror for Yahiko Shrine. On January 25, Meiji 13, he died at the age of 66 at the residence of his adopted son, Nobuchika, in Hongo Motomachi, Tokyo. His skill was the most outstanding among the Kiyomaro school, and some of his works rivaled those of his master Kiyomaro. He was also skilled in carving and applied it to many of his works, but his unique style was characterized by shallow, delicate carvings. This sword is wide, with an extended kissaki, long nagasa, a relatively narrow shinogi-haba compared to the mihaba, little hiraniku, and a fukura that tends towards kare-gokoro. This is a unique sword shape often seen in Kiyomaro and his school during the Shinshinto period, and its appearance is particularly magnificent. The kitae is itame that tends to hada-dachi, generally nagare, with thick ji-nie, prominent chikei, and the hamon is gunome-midare with characteristic yakiba that include angular ha, round-headed gunome, and togari-ba. The ashi are long and prominent, with abundant nie, overall sunagashi, and thick kin-suji in various places, as usual, and a bright nioiguchi. In particular, the boshi is midare-komi with a saki that sweeps, fully demonstrating his skill. Furthermore, round tama (shima-ba) that appear to be nuke are visible in the ha-chu, which is also a common feature of Kiyomaro and his school. The magnificent blade shape and gorgeous yakiba combine to create an exceptional presence. Many works up to Bunkyu 2 are signed with the long mei "Kurihara Kenji Nobuhide," but works from Bunkyu 3 to Genji 2 are usually signed with the three-character mei "Taira Nobuhide," or the two-character mei "Nobuhide," as seen in this sword. The nakago of this period is also noteworthy for being particularly long. Since the era name was changed on February 20, Bunkyu 4, this work is understood to be a work from immediately after the era change, making it valuable from a historical perspective. 『Shape』 Shinogi-zukuri, iori-mune, mihaba is normal, nagasa is long, there is a slight difference in width between moto and saki, the shinogi-haba is relatively narrow compared to the mihaba, the kasane is thick, there is little hiraniku, the chu-kissaki is extended, and the fukura tends towards kare-gokoro. 『Kitae』 Itame hada tends to hada-dachi, generally nagare, thick ji-nie, prominent chikei, with black kawari-gane mixed in various places. 『Hamon』 Gunome-midare with angular ha, togari-ba, round-headed gunome, tobiyaki-fu and shima-ba mixed, ashi are long and prominent, abundant nie, overall sunagashi, especially prominent kin-suji, Kiyomaro-fu, and a bright and clear nioiguchi. 『Boshi』 Midare-komi, saki sweeps and returns deeply. 『Nakago』 Ubu, saki is ha-agari-gokoro kuri-jiri, yasurime is suji-chigai, mekugi-ana is 1. 『Dimensions (Size)』 Nagasa (Blade length) 76cm, Sori (Curve) 1.4cm, Moto-haba (Width at the base) 3.19cm, Saki-haba (Width at the tip) 2.25cm, Moto-gasane (Thickness at the base) 0.74cm, Saki-gasane (Thickness at the tip) 0.5cm
NihontoWatchmei · Shin-shinto · nagasa 76cm · sori 1.4cm
Kurihara Nobuhide, Yamaura Kiyomaro school (shinshinto) · Musashi · around 1857-1867
Fujishiro Jo-jo saku · Tōken Taikan top 10%
3 pieces on the market now
Kurihara Kenji Nobuhide was born at Sanjō in Echigo and began life as a maker of metal mirrors, turning to the sword only around Kaei 3 when he entered the Edo workshop of Yamaura Kiyomaro at Yotsuya. Of the master's pupils he is the one the published sources place nearest the source: examining a blade made before he took his title, the NBTHK writes that 'his technique was, among the members of that school, the closest to approaching the level of his master'[[c:1]]. He received the honorary title Chikuzen no Kami in the fifth month of Keiō 1, lived three years at Osaka, returned to Edo, and after the Haitōrei went home to Echigo and forged only a little until his death in Meiji 13. He signed Nobuhide, often Taira Nobuhide and, after the title, Kurihara Chikuzen no Kami Taira Nobuhide. With Kiyondo he is one of the two hands who carried the Kaei-era Sōshū revival of the Yotsuya Masamune into the Bakumatsu and early Meiji.
What he aimed at is his teacher's manner, and within it the Shizu vein Kiyomaro favoured most. The published commentary states plainly that his workmanship 'resembles his teacher and excels in the Shizu tradition'[[c:2]]. The temper is a gunome-midare into which he sets togariba and an angular kaku-gunome, a chōji feeling entering and at times mixing in, with ashi and yō well in. The activity is that of a deep nie edge: ko-nie adheres well, sunagashi streams through, and long kinsuji enter frequently, the nioiguchi bright and clear. The bōshi runs midare-komi and turns with a pointed tendency, often with hakikake, sometimes thrusting up to a small round. On a wide hira-zukuri wakizashi the judges read exactly this hand at full strength, 'a work full of commanding spirit, sunagashi and kinsuji operating repeatedly, giving a powerful impression'[[c:3]].
The jigane is where his closeness to Kiyomaro tells most. Over an itame that flows and stands a little, at times mixed with masame and mokume, he lays a thick ji-nie with chikei entering frequently, the steel clear. There is no utsuri: this is a shinshintō hand reaching back to Sōshū through Shizu, not a Bizen one, and the brightness lives in the nie of ji and ha rather than in any reflection. His swords are imposing in shape, wide in body, the kasane often thin and the sori shallow, the kissaki extended or run to an ō-kissaki, several with a sakizori tendency. Set against this strength the published sources are candid about the limit of the inheritance: his spirit and forcefulness, they note more than once, do not reach his master's, even as the deftness of the work is beyond question.
His own tell, the feature that is his alone in the school, is the carving. The mirror-maker's training gave him a hand for metal that the others lacked, and the NBTHK records that within the Yamaura line 'there are no blades but his that bear carvings'[[c:4]]. The motifs are diverse and distinctively his: a grass-style kurikara, a jewel-chasing dragon, a dragon-riding Kannon, Ame-no-Uzume-no-Mikoto and mountain cherry at the koshimoto, bonji and suken beneath futasuji-hi and bō-hi. From Meiji 1, after study with the metal-artist Kanō Natsuo, his carving changes markedly into a shallow, low-relief manner. The form that accompanies the carving is the katakiriba-zukuri, which the published sources note is not uncommonly encountered among his swords, alongside the wide hira-zukuri sunobi wakizashi. Carving was so much the point of his work that on one entirely uncarved katana the judges turn the absence into praise: with no horimono to occupy the eye, they write, the blade is 'all the more such that it could be mistaken for his teacher Kiyomaro'[[c:5]].
What separates him from his teacher is named in the commentary itself, and it is a matter of degree, not of kind. He works the same flowing itame with thick ji-nie and chikei, the same gunome-midare deep in nie with sunagashi and kinsuji, the same pointed bōshi; but where Kiyomaro's hand is read as overwhelming in spirit, Nobuhide's is read as the most skillful approach to it, the closest the school came. Among the Kiyomaro pupils his is the carved hand, the Osaka and Echigo wandering hand, the one whose blades can be dated and placed by their signatures and titles. He is therefore the open, knowable face of a school whose founder is the more mythologized for his short and violent life.
For the collector he is an attainable Kiyomaro-school name of real quality. Fujishiro grades him Jō-jō saku, and the Tōkō Taikan values his work highly among shinshintō smiths. He has no National Treasures and no Important Cultural Properties; his record runs instead through the Jūyō Tōken rank, where something over thirty of his signed katana, wakizashi and naginata are designated. His provenance is grounded and historically resonant rather than broad: one katakiriba wakizashi of Keiō 1, the published sources record, 'was presented to Shogun Yoshinobu'[[c:6]], and a blade is preserved at the Hachiman shrine of his native Sanjō in Echigo. Most designated blades are held rather than traded, and only a small share fall in the tradeable tier, so a signed Nobuhide reaches the market only from time to time. When one does, it is among the most rewarding ways a collector can hold the Kiyomaro Sōshū manner, signed, dated, and often carried by his own carving.
Where Nobuhide stands among comparable artisans: across all of nihontō, and within tradition, era, and period. The tiers (Foremost · Leading · Major · Notable) weigh official designations from the NBTHK and Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs, together with historical honors of lasting repute such as the Sansaku and Meibutsu-chō.
Select a lens to see how it's measured.
Years he was demonstrably active, proven by signed-and-dated blades
Shinshinto · Musashi
13 pieces on the market now
The Kiyomaro school gathered in the workshops of Yotsuya in Edo around the middle of the nineteenth century, its founder Yamaura Kiyomaro (清麿) born in Bunka 10 (1813) at Akaiwa village in the Komoro district of Shinano, the second son of the country gentry-warrior Yamaura Nobukaze. Learn more →
| Smith | Era | Designated |
|---|---|---|
| Kiyomaro清麿 | 1839-1854 | 52 |
| Nobuhide信秀 | 1857-1867 | 34 |
| Kiyondo清人 | 1848-1868 | 8 |
| Masao真雄 | 1844-1866 | 6 |
| Masanao正直 | 1865-1868 | 3 |
A Hozon-certified blade judged to show notably superior workmanship and a better state of preservation. The bar is higher: re-tempered blades and most unsigned Muromachi/Edo works are excluded.
The NBTHK (Nihon Bijutsu Tōken Hozon Kyōkai, the Society for the Preservation of Japanese Art Swords) is a public-interest incorporated foundation founded in 1948 and supervised by Japan’s Agency for Cultural Affairs (Bunkachō); it is based at the Japanese Sword Museum in Tokyo. Its expert panels physically examine each submitted work (shinsa) and issue a certificate (kanteishō) ranking it by artistic and historical merit. NBTHK papers are the most widely recognized standard of authentication for Japanese swords and fittings.
NBTHK official siteWhen the item reaches you, please check immediately for damage and that it matches your order. We bear the shipping cost for a return; please send it freight-collect. Costs other than the item price cannot be refunded.
